4 new screenshots

[ShadesWolf]

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/rome_073003_04.jpg

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/rome_073003_03.jpg

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/rome_073003_02.jpg

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/rome_073003_01.jpg

[frogbeastegg]

I just came racing over here to post a link to these only to find you beat me to it Ah well, you've done a much better job than I could http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Hold on a moment There are loads more new (to me ) pictures here (http://mediaviewer.ign.com/mediaviewer.jsp?page_title=Rome%3A+Total+War&channel_id=59&site=pchub&pagetype=medialist&adtag=network%3Dign&object_id=498739&fromint=1), including some close ups on individaul men Get going Maybe someone could post the other new ones here?

I've got to say that these pictures are really something. Seeing these has made me decide that is RTW won't work perfectly in every detail on my PC I will upgrade it until it does Now onto the details:

*Does anyone else like the way the officers are differently equipped and stood slightly separate to their formation? I do, it might improve their survival rating. It will also make it easier to see when a unit has lost its original commander, unless his replacement changes armour in the middle of the fight This will be very useful for those occasions where you have several people with V&V fighting in the same battle, it will be easier to tell when one of them dies.

*What's with the barbarian pickaxe men? I don't remember seeing them before and I can't guess what they are off the top of my head. I've got vague memories of a sculpture featuring pickaxe men but I can't remember what it was or who's side they were fighting on. Does anyone know?

*That grass is beautiful I wonder if you will be able to hide units in really long grass, or set fire to it with fire arrows (ala praetorians).

*The Roman in the front of the first picture is wearing socks It looks like some of the others are wearing them as well. It's only a matter of time before people start complaining this isn't accurate. :sigh: Fortunately I've got two books on Roman military clothing which list tonnes of sources on socks so that should help squash that protest quickly.

*In picture number 2 you can see what looks like the general. If he is the general (instead of a cavalry commander) do you think that the other horsemen are part of a special bodyguard unit akin to MTWs royal knights? Looking at the large unit pictures on IGN I think that the cavalry could be either light or heavy Roman cavalry, the angle isn't good enough to tell as you can only see the officer clearly.While we're on picture 2 I'd just like to say that it is wonderful, I might use it as my background if I could get rid of the IGN logo.

*That’s the first really good picture of the Greek's banner I've seen. I think it’s pretty stylish. Also the banner in the background of number 4 looks like a horse or a stag, I can't decide which. What do people think?

*In picture 4 there is a Greek swordsman in the middle of the archers. What is he doing? Is he the officer, in which case how is he going to keep up with his unit? Is he part of another unit and just stood there on coincidence? Is he a part of a mixed infantry/archer regiment? Ah, the mysteries.

*There are some yellow legonaries Are they mercenaries? I would guess so because yellow seems to be the Greeks in this battle.

[Mount Suribachi]

Quote[/b] (frogbeastegg @ July 31 2003,09:17)]*The Roman in the front of the first picture is wearing socks It looks like some of the others are wearing them as well. It's only a matter of time before people start complaining this isn't accurate. :sigh: Fortunately I've got two books on Roman military clothing which list tonnes of sources on socks so that should help squash that protest quickly.
I have seen with my own eyes socks that have been excavated from the Roman fort at Vindolanda http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

And there is no way on the face of Gods green Earth, that my current PC will run RTW

[Stormer]

Yea iv gotta get a job (mothers orders) and i think im gonna save up for brand spanking PC, the pc i got might run it but i want to get full feel out the game.

[Shahed]

Fantastic. Looks awesome.

[Mamushi]

Same here,my poor little PC will never make it,but I have already discussed a new one with the boss. (Course the boss does not know the new PC is primarily for RTW http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif )

[Catiline]

More significantly i think is that the barbarians that appear to be charging the Greeks seem to be in different poses as htey charge.

less with the flaming arrows.

[Shahed]

I hope you can use flaming arrows whenever you want. Also I lke the artillery on the hill, now that's the way to deploy it.

[dlundie]

oh my god

[Leet Eriksson]

The last picture has 3 legionnares one of them is carrying a hoplonalso what are the legionnares doing fighting with the greeks,eh?

[Alrowan]

dude... i want it http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[Knight_Yellow]

i cant see any pictures and the link doesnt work



BUHHAAAAAAAA http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[Aide de camp]

I can't see the pictures neither http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif .

But I found them in Gamespot http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/rometotalwar/screenindex.html

[Catiline]

He's carrying a hoplon because he's not a legionary.

[Brighdaasa]

i'm still drooling over the screenies, and getting all tingling inside, with the occasional bursts of disappointment that there's over a year separating us from the release

looking at screenie 3, it seems the battlefields will be much bigger then in mtw

[Gregoshi]

New patron Fatboy-2003 contributes the following and a ton of screenshots I hadn't seen before:

-----
I was looking for the 4 new RTW screen shots & come across a LOT more than 4 screens that are new to me at
www.gamestar.de

Exact link is ...
http://www.gamestar.de/screens....me=http (http://www.gamestar.de/screenshots/ggalerie.php?bildname=http://www.gamestar.de/graphics/screenshots/530/530&id=530&bildanzahl=36&seite=1&neu=0&name=Rome%3A+Total+War&link=&linktext=)
-----

[Shahed]

Here is the link to ET thread:

Fatboy's First (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=15;t=9378;st=0;&#entry130234)

[Nowake]

*Hugs all the CA staff http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pat.gif

[frogbeastegg]

Quote[/b] (frogbeastegg @ July 31 2003,09:17)]*In picture number 2 you can see what looks like the general. If he is the general (instead of a cavalry commander) do you think that the other horsemen are part of a special bodyguard unit akin to MTWs royal knights? Looking at the large unit pictures on IGN I think that the cavalry could be either light or heavy Roman cavalry, the angle isn't good enough to tell as you can only see the officer clearly.

Well I can answer my own question with the aid of the screens posted at GameStar.de. There is a screen that is clearly this scene from another angle. The cavalry unit consists of 6 men including the officer, so it looks like the general will have a personal bodyguard again. Yay

I'll say this in bold since a lot of people have been asking:
THERE ARE PICTURES OF THE CAMPAGIN MAP ON GAMESTAR.DE
Three to be precise. There are also pictures of kataphractoi and what look like Parthians.

[Kongamato]

Pikes and... Kataphraktoi?

What are these horsemen? (http://www.gamestar.de/cgi-bin/galery/screenie.jpg?id=530&picnum=10)

And who are these guys? (http://www.gamestar.de/cgi-bin/galery/screenie.jpg?id=530&picnum=8)


Carthaginians? (http://www.gamestar.de/cgi-bin/galery/screenie.jpg?id=530&picnum=17)

[frogbeastegg]

Kongamato they look like Parthian kataphractoi to me, leastways like the ones shown in the Osprey book 'Romes enemies 5 The Parthians and Sassanid Persians'. I've been expecting them to show up for a while http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

The Purple People look familiar but I can't think where from. I'll take a look through my books. The problem is they also look like Parthians, but they are a different colour. Maybe colour will be open to player choice like in MTW multiplayer?

The White People look quite Romanesque, it could be another Roman faction displaying new legionary types in another colour just to confuse us. Or it could be one of the factions that uses Roman like units, for example the Carthaginians.

[ShadesWolf]

OH Wow http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif

Did you see those strat maps. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif

[Cobra]

I would expect as much from the legionnaires, but, the barbarians are all cookie cutter, each unit should have a few different models and a few skins for each model.

[Nelson]

The smoking arrows are headed for a structure we can't see. I hope...

[Monk]

wait for it....wait for it....hold.... NOW http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif .


well thats all i have to say http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[CBR]

Hm and what do I see in front of the cataphracts..very long pointy sticks...sure looks like sarissa to me http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

CBR

[dagger]

Awesome

[Stormer]

Them white dudes look so good they look like my favorite unit yet.

[Kongamato]

Ever noticed in the first IGN screen that from a distance those barbarians look like the Apes from Planet of the Apes?

[Leet Eriksson]

the dude carrying a hoplon ain't a legionary..ok that can be chewed on.but what are the other 2 suspicious looking guys doing with greeks?

[Stormer]

Thir traiters http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

[Macedon]

Hmmmm.....the strat screens look like civ3 to me...
anyhow,this will be enormous game http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/dizzy.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smokin.gif

[DrHaphazard]

hey i can never find anything on that gamestar.de site. Maybe cuz i dont speak German http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif Thanks for the link to all the thumbnails. Of course i cant see the big version, but thats the price you pay for not paying.

Any chance that someone can host some of the unique pics on their site so i can see the campaign map writ large?

Any chance? Pretty please...

[Mount Suribachi]

GAH The thumbnails are too tiny and I'm not a "member" or whatever it says in German so I can't see the full size piccies... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

The campaign map looks awesome tho...maybe I'll just have to autoresolve all my battles cos I ain't gunna be getting the new PC I'll need to run the battles http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[DrHaphazard]

I like how everyone refuses to beleive that an ordinary computer can handle the game. I know if i was a computer game company i would make games that only the top 5% of computers can play. CA is certainly going to make a lot of money producing games that only a few can play. (Sarcasm yall.)

In other news...we got any good samaritans out there who are willing to steal Gamestar's screenies? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[Sjakihata]

well, CA already stated that a machine that runs mtw (and meet the system requirements) can run RTW.

[Cobra]

Hmmm, maybe I can snag some. Not stealing GS's, but perhaps get or find some others. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Sjakihata]

check this:

http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin....y131376 (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=15&t=9427&st=&&#entry131376)

[Cobra]

Thank you,
Yup, I don't really like it. THough it's most likely an alpha type place holder, and thats why there hasn't been a release. The very crisp texture shifts, trees are looking like textured spheres.

If it's not rotatable, I would suggest they do a 2D sprite of the army, or at least make it less funky looking. Anyways, by the looks, its just placeholder, so I won't say to much.

The mountains look tall, I guess that's because they're impassable, so, thats cool.

Check the unit numbers. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Sjakihata]

yeah, odd numbers indeed.

Well, the map is basically the same as mtw, which is nice cos it is big http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

and I tend to agree, the avatars on the map representing armies is looking a bit funky,

sorry, what do you mean by "placeholder" `?

[DrHaphazard]

Thanks Akechi thats just what i was lookin for. I think by placeholder he means something that was thrown together for playtesting but will later be refined.

I see they do have what appear to be provinces, but i remember someone saying something about a city controlling the area around it...i dunno its not clear to me what they've done there.

[Cobra]

Yes, by placeholder, I mean the graphics here, and some toher thigns, are just there so that the thing can be used while they refine the parts of the game, and then this will be fixed up later. I'd be very surprised if CA gave us a map with squared off textures. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[Kraxis]

I just noticed something interesting about the Greek Legionaries. They have long hair, as do all Greek troops in that picture. That is highly odd.

I can't imagine that CA would make the Legions able to be mercs. Yet we see them in the shot, could they be bribed forces? Interesting that they then deside to grow long hair.
Couldn't it be that the hoplon carrying man is the commander of the legion? He could be the generic Greek commander, and since the legion is Greek they have a Greek commander.
I mean it would be a chore for CA to create a commander for every single unit in the game. I suspect that each type of unit will have a different commander.
Thus swordsmen will have one, heavy cav another, archers yet one more and so on. That could explain the odd soldier between the archers.

Have you noticed how the Roman general is pointing at he enemy, like he is issuing a command. I don't know if I'm going to like it if he is going to point his sword every time I tell a unit to attack an enemy. Hopefully that isn't the case here.

GAH I can't see those Kataphractoi pictures either... could somebody send them to me?

[Nelson]

Quote[/b] (DrHaphazard @ Aug. 02 2003,14:19)]I like how everyone refuses to beleive that an ordinary computer can handle the game.
Well, it all depends on what you mean by “handle”. If you mean running the game at low resolution and small unit sizes then maybe most people will be able to “handle” it.

For me “handle” means huge units at 1024x768 with a smooth frame rate at all times. Even now M:TW chugs a bit in big battles on my Athlon 2000 XP with 768 ram and a GeForce4. So I expect to upgrade for Rome order to enjoy the game in all its’ glory.

[Spino]

Quote[/b] ]Well, it all depends on what you mean by “handle”. If you mean running the game at low resolution and small unit sizes then maybe most people will be able to “handle” it.

For me “handle” means huge units at 1024x768 with a smooth frame rate at all times. Even now M:TW chugs a bit in big battles on my Athlon 2000 XP with 768 ram and a GeForce4. So I expect to upgrade for Rome order to enjoy the game in all its’ glory.

Good heavens this topic has been beaten to death...

I have an Athlon XP 2400+, a Radeon 9700 and 1gig of ram and really large battles (4v4 multiplayer) can chug on my system as well, especially when I try to look across the battlefield at all the armies at once (more on this in a moment). Yet when you or I load up extremely graphic intensive games like Elite Forces 2, UT2003 or even a cpu hog like IL2 Sturmovik at the same resolution (1024x768) we get pretty smooth framerates during even the most intensive action. Why? Because of the nature of the onscreen graphics. You need to keep in mind that the tactical battles in MTW sport 3D polygons (terrain, buildings, wildlife & siege engines) AND thousands of 2D animated sprites. It is the latter that place a huge demand on our systems because as far as I know, most 3D cards do not possess the ability to accelerate 2D sprites leaving the CPU to do most of the work. DirectX's DirectDraw allows for the acceleration of 2D sprites and whatnot but it can only do so much in software and there isn't a demand for powerful 2D accelerator cards nowadays since most graphic intensive games are overwhelmingly 3D. Now convert those thousands of animated 2D soldiers into animated, textured 3D soldiers that our 3D cards were designed to accelerate and suddenly much of the 3D horsepower generated by our 3D cards no longer goes to waste. Several thousand animated 2D sprites? Problem. Several thousand animated 3D objects? No problem.

Equally important is to keep in that the RTW engine will aggressively adjust the number of polygons onscreen in order to keep the framerates smooth. A highly detailed (high polygon count) hoplite will look fantastic up close but when viewed from a considerable distance will be nothing more than a low polygon multicolored stick figure with a graphical blob here and there, a piece of cake for most 3D cards to render. I am also fairly confident that the RTW engine will remove animation frames from soldiers the further they are from the user's view. If you've seen any of the in game video footage out there you can see this in action, simply keep an eye on the soldiers in the background. Removing animation frames should also free up cpu cycles as well.

Last but not least keep in mind that the powers that be at CA and Activision do realize that the kind of people who play strategy games typically do not possess the kind of high end gaming systems favored by the 3D shooter & flight sim crowd. Because of this RTW must be able to run on a wider range of systems in order to ensure that the requirements don't alienate potential buyers.

[Hurin_Rules]

I know the Spartans had long hair. They used to comb it before battle (believe it or not) to show how little they feared their enemies.